GERMANY: DUSSELDORF: TRIAL OF ALLEGED SPY MARKUS WOLF BEGINS

(7 Jan 1997) German/Eng/Nat The trial of the East German spymaster Markus Wolf has begun in Dusseldorf. Wolf ran the East German security service for most of the Cold War and is accused of kidnapping, coercion and causing bodily harm. It's the second attempt by a united Germany to put him behind bars. Accusations of treason were thrown out by the Appeal Courts in 1995. In a windowless Dusseldorf courtroom once used for big West Germany spy trials, the case of Marcus Wolf case is revealing little-known episodes from the Cold War. Wolf arrived at the courtroom in Dusseldorf on Tuesday for the opening day of the case with his third wife Andrea, and his lawyers. The 73-year-old defendant is being tried by the same Dusseldorf court that sentenced him to six years in prison for treason and bribery in 1993. The Appeals Court overturned that verdict 18 months ago and ordered a retrial after the Federal Constitutional Court ruled that East Germans spy leaders who worked in their communist homeland cannot be tried for treason because they did not betray their country. Now he faces new charges of kidnapping, coercion and causing bodily harm in operations his agents allegedly carried out between 1955 and 1962. On Tuesday, as expected, prosecutors dropped treason from the charges lodged against Wolf. But, the other charges stand. In 1995 he remained silent throughout the trial, but this time he chose to break his silence, making a twenty minute declaration expressing his innocence. Once known as "the man without a face" for outfoxing his Western foes, Wolf has avoided jail since German unification in 1990. He's believed to have planted some 4-thousand spies in the West during the Cold War, about half of them in West Germany. Wolf headed communist East Germany's espionage network from 1953 to 1986. His agents gained N-A-T-O secrets for the Soviet bloc that could have been decisive if war had broken out in Europe. He's now accused of supervising the kidnap of an East German secret police defector and his girlfriend. Federal prosecutors say Wolf's agents tracked down Walter Thraene and his companion to Austria in 1962, beat them unconscious and took them to a Czech prison, from where they were returned to East Germany for trial. Thraene was sentenced to 15 years in prison for treason. He died in 1993. His girlfriend was jailed for more than three years. Prosecutors also accuse Wolf of approving the March 1955 kidnap of a translator at the U.S. High Commissioner's office in Berlin. After the first day's proceedings Wolf told reporters he was being portrayed as a petty criminal. SOUNDBITE: (German) "I speak this time because after the former charges of treason were dropped by the constitutional court, they are trying to present me as a mean criminal. This accusation is pointed against me, and also against the post which I lead, and against the former G- D-R. And I must defend myself against this" SUPER CAPTION: Markus Wolf, Former East German spy chief He claims he is being used as a scapegoat for injustices in the former G-D-R. SOUNDBITE: (English) "It's an attempt of the Federal Attorney of law to fight against the principle decision of the Constitutional Court, and, in my case, to make an example for injustice in the former G-D-R, but I think the special cases are only manipulated and I think the trial will show it." SUPER CAPTION: Markus Wolf, Former East German spy chief Wolf's lawyer declared his wish to clear his client's name. SOUNDBITE: (German) SUPER CAPTION: Joachim Lampe, Defence Lawyer Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...